Weekly Digital News - 4th February

BlackBerry release BlackBerry 10. 

Research in Motion (RIM), now known as just “BlackBerry”, released the long awaited BlackBerry 10, along with the first phone to carry the OS. BlackBerry have basically started again from scratch with the operating system with a complete redesign and some new features. The OS focuses on BlackBerry Hub, an inbox for your emails, text messages and notifications. Big name social media apps are already available on the new OS - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Foursquare.

The OS and phone has been hit with mixed reviews and although their stock is down, it is too early to see if the Canadian company will see a resurgence in the smartphone industry. 

Samsung gains tablet market share, Apples lead narrows. 

In the last quarter of 2012, Samsung doubled its market share for tablet devices. Samsung, who make the popular Galaxy range, sold 7.9 million units, up from 2.2 million a year before, increasing their market share to 15.1%. 

Although Apple witnessed an increase in sales, their share of the tablet market fell from 51.5% to 43.6%. 

The tablet market is continuing to grow as a whole. Even Microsoft did not quite hitting the top 5 makers, after shipping almost 900,000 units in the last quarter of 2012.

EE rolls out 4G to 9 new towns, covers 45% of population

EE, the first 4G LTE provider to the UK, expanded its super-fast mobile networks to nine more UK towns. In less than three months, the service has brought 4G to 27 towns and cities. 

The growing popularity of 4G enabled devices, such as the iPhone 5, iPad mini, Samsung Galaxy III the upcoming BlackBerry Z10, has required EE to cover more areas. 

Google encourages kids to code by donating 15,000 Raspberry Pis to schools

In attempt to get school children to learn to code, Google have donated 15,000 Raspberry Pis to schools across the UK. OCR will be supplying 15,000 free teaching and learning packs Raspberry Pi announced news on their blog. 

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